On today's episode, Kurt speaks with Jeff Heine about the elements that lend to successful start up companies. He also goes over the secrets to working well with executive teams, and the much needed advice for job seekers. Jeff has extensive experience in helping build and scale early stage tech companies. His focus is on the Sales, Marketing and Customer Success functions and he is incredibly passionate about building organizations around the market and customer needs. He earned a BS from Bradley University and is certified Business Professional by Hecht & Associates in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. Feel free to reach out to Jeff Heine at www.hellophello.com.

On today's episode, Kurt speaks with Ellen Raim about being of value to your clients and how important is it. She also shares information about looking for opportunities to grow within, transitioning careers and using Phello as a tool for success. Ellen has a unique career path that has allowed her to study and understand how people behave at work, individually and in groups. She started her career as an employment lawyer where she saw the fall-out of poorly designed cultures and people processes. She moved into HR, got a masters in organizational design and another in Behavioral Science and has used the rest of her career to research and test methods to make workplaces as fulfilling and productive as possible. As a Senior HR Executive, she developed expertise leading the full spectrum of strategic human resources and compliance functions for global organizations. She has Provided guidance to employees in 14 countries including Germany, Israel, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Ireland, UK, Malaysia, India, Canada, Costa Rica, and Japan. As a consultant, she helped companies with unique "people" issues. Her Industry experience includes high technology, semiconductors, consumer products, retail, aviation, law firms, manufacturing, and public sector. Feel free to reach out to Ellen Raim at www.hellophello.com.

In this episode, Kurt speaks with Ines Lebow about being able to change companies from within using positive change and transforming by using tried and true strategies and a platform called Phello. Ines founded Enterprise Transformation Solutions (ETS) to leverage her vast 30+ years’ expertise offering Global Operational Improvement Program Leadership, and Business Turnaround Engagements focused on improving the health and effectiveness of Business Operations. ETS offers executives a reliable, holistic, and realistic way forward, no matter what their current status. Ines focuses on companies in need of transforming operations, fueling revenue growth, optimizing profits, turning around their businesses to gain a competitive advantage in the Enterprise space. She is known as an Operations Turnaround specialist with a fast -track record delivering revenue generation and implementation, P&L growth, business management and engineering leadership both domestically and Internationally. Her long history of hands- on 24x7 experience and work in Senior Executive roles in Telecommunications and Technology has shown her how to get the most revenue for her clients. Her extensive experience in multi-site Operations Turnaround management has demonstrated that every business can be examined, diagnosed and improved and thrive. Ines has built a framework to review the business, identify the underlying problems, create a solution strategy, map and document processes and execute the transformation plan working with the leadership team. Ines’s high-level accomplishments include $800 million in revenue implementation, $46million in revenue generation, served 100,000 customers and managed 2,000 employees. The company’s turnaround ranges from pre-revenue, new entity start-up to $500M. She has managed 11 Mergers and Acquisitions transactions. Companies in which Ines led operational turnarounds include Accenture, Xspedius, Broadsoft, MegaPath, SkyTerra, WorldCom, MFS, Brooks Fiber Properties, Contel ASC, Viatel, CFN Services and AM3. Nine of the 12 companies had successful exists. Ines has appeared on the Arnett Repot and MDTV. She is an expert speaker on Change Management and has presented at the Leaders of the Roundtable. She has a bachelor’s degree and 2 master’s degrees from American University where she coaches the Entrepreneurial program and is a judge for the George Washington new venture competition. She serves on numerous Board of Director positions and advisory boards and is fluent in Spanish. Feel free to reach out to Ines Lebow at www.hellophello.com.

On this episode, Kurt speaks with John Lombardi about the importance of a strong network and how it can help with both future hiring as well as finding employment. John has been in the wireless industry for 25+ years. The first half of his career was focused on Product and Business Line Management. The second half has been focused on Sales & Business Development. He began working with Verizon in late 2001 while at Lucent Technologies, helping the Sales Team expand their wireless sales to include new software, services, optical and transmission solutions. While at Motorola Mobility, he led the Verizon account and drove >200% growth, initiating a transition from the Razr to a purpose-built device portfolio, followed by an exclusive focus on Android in 2009 and the sell-in and expansion of the award-winning DROID franchise. While at Nokia, he led the Verizon Account, renewing and expanding their relationship by improving delivery and execution, winning new business in SDN/NFV, and small cell services and securing Nokia’s participation in Verizon’s 5G consortium, as a trusted partner. While at Mobilitie, he led the Verizon Account, expanding their relationship and business, driving >250% growth in the indoor/outdoor venue segment and negotiating (3) contracts to closure with HQ and Sourcing to expand their business into small cells. He is currently at Samsung Electronics America (SEA) and leading the Verizon Account driving profitable growth, with a team of approximately 50 people. Feel free to reach out to John Lombardi at www.hellophello.com.

On today’s episode, Kurt speaks with Ozzy Castillo about what led him to his career choice, his experience with networking in college, the steps he took to find his first job, and his thoughts on job boards. Ozzy recently earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology and accepted a position with Blue Origin. Feel free to reach out to Ozzy at www.hellophello.com/oldarlyncastillo

On today's episode, Kurt speaks with Tim Hazzard about the importance of staying in touch with your contacts. Tim Hazzard has over 30 years of experience in the data center industry focused on corporate IT, telecommunications and R&D. As Vice President of NTT Data Services Health Care and Life Sciences Client Delivery, Tim is responsible for ensuring Healthcare Plan and Payer clients IT operations are running effectively and efficiently. He manages a portfolio of $50 million in revenue. Prior to joining NTT Data, Tim had spent 8 years as the President of the Data Solutions Group for Methode Electronics Inc,. This role involved managing the sales and operations of 4 companies, manufacturing data center electronics and physical infrastructure products. Before that Tim had spent 18 years with Electronic Data Systems providing data center and IT management services. Tim’s last role at EDS was managing the Applications and Web Hosting Business lines with annual revenues of $400 million dollars. Please feel to reach out to Tim Hazzard at www.hellophello.com.

On today’s episode, Kurt speaks with Nathan Demario, a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering Graduate student at Rochester Institute of Technology. Nathan discusses how growing up in a 5th generation maple syrup farming family influenced his decision to choose engineering as a career path at Alfred State and eventually on to RIT for graduate studies. In addition, Nathan explains how an undergraduate HVAC project led to him becoming CTO of the start-up, Phase Innovations, and how the RIT graduate program is helping him learn about business strategies as well as providing him with access to state-of-the-art mechanical engineering facilities. Feel free to reach out to Nathan at www.hellophello.com/nathandemario

On today's episode Kurt speaks with Stephen Van Vreede about resume writing, your network, and utilizing it in the process. Stephen Van Vreede is an executive resume writer and job search coach supporting senior-level executives in technology and engineering. He’s been helping candidates to overcome uncertainty in the job market since the early 2000s. He is the President and Principal of ITtechExec.com, where he developed the unique Concierge Job Search solutions that are now being offered as part of a monthly membership service. Stephen has been featured by industry outlets that include CIO.com, TechRepublic, and Dice as a Strategic Career Advisor and CIO Resume Makeover Specialist. He also was a co-author of the best-selling book UNCOMMON along with renowned speaker and leadership guru Brian Tracy. Stephen began his career with a GE Capital Company, where he served in field operations before going on to direct their international call center organization. While completing his MBA at Villanova, Stephen and his wife, Sheree, began providing resume writing, interview skills training, and job search coaching services in the Philadelphia market. Feel free to reach Stephen Van Vreede at www.hellophello.com. ITtechExec; Fairport, NY 14450 ~ www.ittechexec.com